A young woman recounts her experience getting her driver's license on a scorching summer day in her rural Australian hometown. She describes the anticipation, the family car, and the excitement of finally being able to drive.
I always knew how to do it. I mean, I’d been doing it since I could still list my age in single digits. But now I was about to show my local constable, a fairly young-looking bloke in a slightly ill-fitting uniform, that I could do it legally. It was, as it always was in January, a blisteringly hot summer’s day. My country town was melting. The bitumen smoking. Well, steaming with that unmistakable heat haze.
The river and the beaches not far from my dairy farm community were our summer playgrounds. It’s where we all went. My family, my school friends, my knitted-bikini-clad tribe and just about every tourist who made the trek up the highway from their city homes.Credit:The communal plunge into cool water was beyond words. More a sound. Like the high-pitched buzz of a cicada on cue, I would simply make a noise as the water snapped the sun’s rays and washed over my bare skin.Liz Hayes aged 18 as a cadet journalist at the Manning River Times in Taree.I was sitting in my dad’s Holden Kingswood, one of the bestselling Australian-made cars of all time. It was brand new. Three-on-the-tree gear stick. Tan upholstery an attractive contrast to its white exterior. The smell of vinyl was unmistakable, although the scent of coconut oil lingering on the bench seat in the front, from its last beach outing, made it seem even more alluring. The familiarity of the family sedan was comforting because today was a biggie. It would be, as far as I was concerned, a day that could change my life.From this day on I would be able to take the wheel, Dad permitting, and feel the summer breeze swirl across my elbow as it rested lazily on the open driver’s-side door window; dust kicking up behind me as I hit the gravel road to the beach. I arrived early for my 10am appointment and angle-parked at the kerb outside the local police station. The young constable who was to put me through my paces appeared wearing his revolver and a slight smirk as he opened the passenger door and sat beside m
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